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Western plow moving slow,then fast, intermitten

I had the same problem 2 weeks ago with this plow. As i was plowing,i saw the plow at times lift very slow,,and moving slower at times left to right. i had all fluid changed,,hoses, pump etc. It worked fine for the next plow but yesterday, i had to plow and things appeared to be fine. When i initially hit control to lift plow(when i started truck), there was no response from controller,,a second tap and everything worked fine. But on my last house i saw it act up again as it did the other time. At times the plow would move fast,,,others it would move very slow. It seemed when i moved it continuously left to right/up and down,, it would pick up speed,,,but in between houses,,,i would have to move it periodically so it wouldnt move slow,,,also,,there have been rare times when the plow wouldnt respond to controller,, it seemed it wouldnt go left right or up,,,but when i dropped plow,,controller would work fine,,its not low on fluid,,and there shouldnt be water in system being that it was just changed,,,doesnt seem like a water issue,,but who knowss,,,any help appreciated... Thank you

This could be numerous things so you have to narrow it down systematically. It would be nice to know what kind of plow it is, isarmatic (uni-mount) or flostat (ultra-mount) V or straight blade? No matter what it will be the same process. An easy test would be to rigg up a little test light connected to the plow pump motor + and - with the light in a place you can see when you activate the plow. This way, when the system fails to respond you can see if the light comes on or not at all. The speed of movement changes suggests to me you may have a loose connection between the battery and motor on the power side. You can put a voltmeter between the battery + and the motor + and then run it up and down. You should see less than 1 volt, the lower the voltage (while plow is moving) the better. Higher than one indicates pressure (voltage) loss along the way kinda like a kink in a garden hose... Do the same on the negative side, one lead on the battery negative and the other on the motor negative. Again there should be less than 1 volt. You could also just hook up the voltmeter to the motor terminals and see how high it goes when you are using it. Ideally, when you hit up left or right you should see 12V but normal is closer to 10V. If there is a problem with the power curcuit you will see much lower and the voltage will coralate with the speed of motion. Slow speed = low voltage, hight speed = high voltage.

You clearly have pump pressure issues but I do believe they are being caused by electrical failure so we have to eliminate this first. Anywhere there is a bad connection or "voltage drop" heat will be generated so if you give the plow a good workout and then just feel the relay and the grill connector they will be warm at that bad connection. I often just put my face real close to what I am testing because you can feel the heat radiating on your face better than through your callused hands.

Another trick you could use involves a booster cable. Take the booster cable and jump the cable from the battery ground to the plow motor ground and jump from the relay output lug to the plow motor positive lug. A good set of booster cables will provide a detour around the bad connection. You would find everything works will when jumped if it is in deed a power cable problem.

Interesting find. The carbon build up under the cap that houses the motor is usually powdery,,mine was like a paste,,,there was surface rust on the armature(spelling??) which all pointed to moisture in the motor,,also,,2(of the 40 of the brushes need repacing,,there was little if any contact with the armature,,,no idea how water got in but it was surprising ,,replaced the motor and everything is fine,,,